In 1982 the structure of fredericamycin was deciphered. While fredericamycin exhibits antibiotic properties, it has gained greatest attention for its in vitro and in vivo activity against a variety of anticancer screens and is regarded as a possible candidate for clinical trials. The objectives of this project are 1) to effect an expeditious synthesis of fredericamycin which can generate practical quantities of the material; 2) to utilize this synthesis to prepare analogs of fredericamycin selected to probe structure-activity relationships responsible for fredericamycin's biological activity and 3) to use the synthesis of fredericamycin as a vehicle for the further examination of the scope and limitations of lateral metalation as a general synthetic method for the preparation of pharmaceuticals and other organic materials.